Using Geographic Segmentation to Enhance B2B Marketing

Posted On Friday, October 6, 2017

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategies can typically be broken down into one of two categories: targeted and untargeted. Targeted marketing means creating and directing your messages to a specific audience. With untargeted marketing, you create a general message for a non-specific audience in hopes that some of the recipients will be interested in it. On the other hand, targeted marketing focuses on a specific message for a specific audience; thus, resulting in a higher conversion rate.

The first step to creating a targeted B2B marketing campaign is to create segments of your target audience. Of course, there are different ways to segment prospects, though one of the most effective is by geographic region. Known as geographic segmentation, this will allow you to create marketing messages tailored for users in different regions. To learn more about geographic segmentation and how it can enhance your B2B marketing efforts, keep reading.

Focus on Regions In Which Your Company Operates

When using geographic segmentation, it's important to choose regions in which your company operates. If you only operate in the Southeastern United States, for instance, creating a marketing message for prospects in New York isn't going to offer any tangible benefit. On the contrary, it will consume money and resources without generating conversions. To ensure your geographic segmentation is effective, only target regions in which your company operates.

Define Geographic Regions

Now comes the fun part: defining the geographic regions for your B2B marketing campaign. As previously mentioned, you should only target regions in which your company operates. However, there are dozens of different ways to do this. In addition to targeting specific states, for instance, you can also target cities, counties, zip codes and even communities. Larger geographic regions like states offer the highest level of traffic and visibility. Smaller geographic regions, on the other hand, are the most targeted. By using them both, you'll be able to reach the largest audience while creating highly targeted messages in the process.

Use Email Automation

One of the great things about geographic segmentation is that it can be integrated into automated email marketing solutions. Depending on the specific customer relationship management (CRM) software you use, you may have the option to include regional tokens in your emails. Basically, when a token is added, the recipient's geographic region will be used in its place. This means you can create targeted emails automatically, allowing you to focus your efforts elsewhere, such as attracting more prospects.